The Itinerary of Archibishop Baldwin through Wales | Page 4

But never will it be destroyed by the
wrath of man, unless the wrath of God be added. Nor do I think that
any other nation than this of Wales, or any other tongue, whatever may
hereafter come to pass, shall on the day of the great reckoning before
the Most High Judge, answer for this corner of the earth." Prone to
discuss with his "Britannic frankness" the faults of his countrymen, he
cannot bear that any one else should do so. In the "Description of
Wales" he breaks off in the middle of a most unflattering passage
concerning the character of the Welsh people to lecture Gildas for
having abused his own countrymen. In the preface to his "Instruction of
Princes," he makes a bitter reference to the prejudice of the English
Court against everything Welsh - "Can any good thing come from
Wales?" His fierce Welshmanship is perhaps responsible for the
unsympathetic treatment which he has usually received at the hands of
English historians. Even to one of the writers of Dr. Traill's "Social
England," Gerald was little more than "a strong and passionate
Welshman."
Sometimes it was his pleasure to pose as a citizen of the world. He
loved Paris, the centre of learning, where he studied as a youth, and
where he lectured in his early manhood. He paid four long visits to
Rome. He was Court chaplain to Henry II. He accompanied the king on
his expeditions to France, and Prince John to Ireland. He retired, when
old age grew upon him, to the scholarly seclusion of Lincoln, far from
his native land. He was the friend and companion of princes and kings,
of scholars and prelates everywhere in England, in France, and in Italy.
And yet there was no place in the world so dear to him as Manorbier.
Who can read his vivid description of the old castle by the sea - its
ramparts blown upon by the winds that swept over the Irish Sea, its

fishponds, its garden, and its lofty nut trees - without feeling that here,
after all, was the home of Gerald de Barri? "As Demetia," he said in his
"Itinerary," "with its seven cantreds is the fairest of all the lands of
Wales, as Pembroke is the fairest part of Demetia, and this spot the
fairest of Pembroke, it follows that Manorbier is the sweetest spot in
Wales." He has left us a charming account of his boyhood, playing with
his brothers on the sands, they building castles and he cathedrals, he
earning the title of "boy bishop" by preaching while they engaged in
boyish sport. On his last recorded visit to Wales, a broken man, hunted
like a criminal by the king, and deserted by the ingrate canons of St.
David's, he retired for a brief respite from strife to the sweet peace of
Manorbier. It is not known where he died, but it is permissible to hope
that he breathed his last in the old home which he never forgot or
ceased to love.
He mentions that the Welsh loved high descent and carried their
pedigree about with them. In this respect also Gerald was Welsh to the
core. He is never more pleased than when he alludes to his relationship
with the Princes of Wales, or the Geraldines, or Cadwallon ap Madoc
of Powis. He hints, not obscurely, that the real reason why he was
passed over for the Bishopric of St. David's in 1186 was that Henry II.
feared his natio et cognatio, his nation and his family. He becomes
almost dithyrambic in extolling the deeds of his kinsmen in Ireland.
"Who are they who penetrated into the fastnesses of the enemy? The
Geraldines. Who are they who hold the country in submission? The
Geraldines. Who are they whom the foemen dread? The Geraldines.
Who are they whom envy would disparage? The Geraldines. Yet fight
on, my gallant kinsmen,
" Felices facti si quid mea carmina possuit."
Gerald was satisfied, not only with his birthplace and lineage, but with
everything that was his. He makes complacent references to his good
looks, which he had inherited from Princess Nesta. "Is it possible so
fair a youth can die?" asked Bishop, afterwards Archbishop, Baldwin,
when he saw him in his student days. {2} Even in his letters to Pope
Innocent he could not refrain from repeating a compliment paid to him
on his good looks by Matilda of St. Valery, the wife of his neighbour at
Brecon, William de Braose. He praises his own unparalleled generosity
in entertaining the poor, the doctors, and the townsfolk of Oxford to

banquets on three successive days when he read his "Topography of
Ireland" before that university. As for his learning he records that when
his tutors at Paris wished to point